Staying put: Gerrard has vowed to keep the armband on the road to the 2014 World Cup in Brazil

Gerrard said: 'At times the football hasn't been fantastic, we haven't blown people away.

'The possession stats speak for themselves. Moving forward as a nation we do need to improve with the ball.'

Glen Johnson echoed Gerrard's sentiments.

England had only 32 per cent of possession against Italy, and the right-back conceded: ‘There are times when we give the ball away cheaply.

'We definitely need to keep the ball better and then when we go forward we will be a bit fresher and able to hurt quality opponents. The longer we keep the ball the easier it’s going to be.'

 Despite the less-than-impressive performance, Gerrard was happy he and his colleagues had not come up short for effort.

'Everyone has given everything they've got and that's all you can ask for,' he added. 'I think we've performed to a better level at this competition than in previous tournaments.'

The Azzurri dominated possession and hit the post twice, and although England were able to keep them at bay for 120 minutes, the failure of Ashley Young and Ashley Cole to convert their shoot-out kicks led to an another last-eight exit for England.

Hodgson drew comparison with the Germany team of 2006, who also suffered defeat to Italy - albeit in the semi-finals of the World Cup - early on in their rebuilding mission.

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